Robert Duvall is such an interesting actor that he makes most everything he does worth watching, even a movie as otherwise unremarkable as “A Night in Old Mexico.” Even when Duvall is playing, once again, the cantankerous old coot with a good heart who just wants to teach these young people a thing or two, he’s such a compelling, odd figure on the screen, with his mumbled asides and his squinting, that he’s considerably more believable than the movie that surrounds him.

“A Night in Old Mexico” follows Red Bovie (Duvall), an elderly fellow evicted from his family ranch after a bad investment. The same day, the grandson (Jeremy Irvine) he never knew comes to introduce himself. Gruff and nearly unlikeable (were it not for Duvall’s inherent likeability), Red belittles the young man and brings him along for a night on the town in Mexico, where they can drink and whore, possibly for the last time, to Red’s heart’s content.

But unexpectedly, the two pick up two criminals who leave a satchel filled with nearly $150,000 in the back of Red’s car. This catches the two and a Mexican lounge singer-stripper (Angie Cepeda) in the midst of a mob conflict.

Not a bit of this is the slightest believable — one coincidence and contrivance after another lead to these things — nor are the actors other than Duvall particularly up to hanging with the veteran actor. Irvine, effective as the lead of Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” is less effective here, playing a fussy young character who exists to disapprove of his grandfather’s actions as they clash and grow closer together.

Director Emilio Aragon brings this pokey tale to the screen serviceably but not exceptionally, though he wisely seems to just stay out of the way of Duvall. “Lonesome Dove” screenwriter William Wittliff provides the screenplay, which, needless to say, is not quite as fruitful as his previous collaboration with his lead actor. It’s short on quotable lines and memorable incident.

All of this is to say that “A Night at Old Mexico” is what you might call a vanity project for Duvall, a sort of “old guys have it too” story that places great value on Red’s homespun wisdom and sarcasm as he cuts down every young feller in his path. We’ve seen a lot of movies like this lately; this ultimately feels as anonymous and silly as “Last Vegas,” but as if Cormac McCarthy wrote it, particularly in its final third as gunbattles start and the mob intrigue overwhelms everything else. Fortunately Duvall is a fine actor, and watching him in a vanity project is not terrible, at least to a degree. But as far as Duvall vehicles go, just rewatch “The Apostle.”

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Robert Duvall is such an interesting actor that he makes most everything he does worth watching, even a movie as otherwise unremarkable as “A Night in Old Mexico.” Even when Duvall is playing, once again, the cantankerous old coot with a good heart who just wants to teach these young people a thing or two, he’s such a compelling, odd figure on the screen, with his mumbled asides and his squinting, that he’s considerably more believable than the movie that surrounds him.

“A Night in Old Mexico” follows Red Bovie (Duvall), an elderly fellow evicted from his family ranch after a bad investment. The same day, the grandson (Jeremy Irvine) he never knew comes to introduce himself. Gruff and nearly unlikeable (were it not for Duvall’s inherent likeability), Red belittles the young man and brings him along for a night on the town in Mexico, where they can drink and whore, possibly for the last time, to Red’s heart’s content.

But unexpectedly, the two pick up two criminals who leave a satchel filled with nearly $150,000 in the back of Red’s car. This catches the two and a Mexican lounge singer-stripper (Angie Cepeda) in the midst of a mob conflict.

Not a bit of this is the slightest believable — one coincidence and contrivance after another lead to these things — nor are the actors other than Duvall particularly up to hanging with the veteran actor. Irvine, effective as the lead of Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” is less effective here, playing a fussy young character who exists to disapprove of his grandfather’s actions as they clash and grow closer together.

Director Emilio Aragon brings this pokey tale to the screen serviceably but not exceptionally, though he wisely seems to just stay out of the way of Duvall. “Lonesome Dove” screenwriter William Wittliff provides the screenplay, which, needless to say, is not quite as fruitful as his previous collaboration with his lead actor. It’s short on quotable lines and memorable incident.

All of this is to say that “A Night at Old Mexico” is what you might call a vanity project for Duvall, a sort of “old guys have it too” story that places great value on Red’s homespun wisdom and sarcasm as he cuts down every young feller in his path. We’ve seen a lot of movies like this lately; this ultimately feels as anonymous and silly as “Last Vegas,” but as if Cormac McCarthy wrote it, particularly in its final third as gunbattles start and the mob intrigue overwhelms everything else. Fortunately Duvall is a fine actor, and watching him in a vanity project is not terrible, at least to a degree. But as far as Duvall vehicles go, just rewatch “The Apostle.”